In years past I have written about what the Bible says about getting paid to pastor, and especially getting paid to preach the gospel (Look on this page<\/a>, under the “Pastoral Pay” section). Recently, a reader sent in the following question:<\/p>\n
Specifically, that getting one’s living from the gospel is a “commanded” practice.<\/p>\n
Any thoughts on the issue would be greatly appreciated.<\/p>\n
Thanks
\nNeil<\/p><\/blockquote>\nMaybe the Command is not for the Preacher but for the Hearer<\/h2>\n
When Neil initially sent this question in to me, I responded this way:<\/p>\n
First, I did some quick study of the Greek in the text, and decided that the various translations are fine. Though there are some verses in various translations that are horrid, this is not one of them.<\/p>\n
So I then decided that maybe the\u00a0command was not primarily for the one preaching the gospel, but for those who were receiving the benefit from the teacher. That is, the command is for the hearers. They were expected to provide for the one doing the teaching. If the one doing the teacher turned down the aid, that was fine, as Paul did. In the context, he says that although it was his right to receive financial help from the Corinthians believers, he turned it down so as not to hinder the gospel (1 Cor 9:12).<\/p>\n
This is the answer I sent to Neil, and while I think there is truth to this idea (that the responsibility is on the hearer to offer support rather than on the teacher to demand it), I do not think that this is what Paul is saying. It does not seem that we can get my interpretation to fit the text. Note that the command is clearly to the one preaching the gospel,\u00a0not\u00a0<\/em>to the ones hearing it. Although… the context is directed toward the hearers, so maybe my take is somewhat justified…<\/p>\n
So what other options are there?<\/p>\n
The Command is for Apostles who Preach the Gospel<\/h2>\n
Neil forwarded me an email that he got back from Alan Knox<\/a>,\u00a0who gave a much better (and more thorough) answer than I did. His answer actually considers the context and where Jesus might have given the command that Paul is referring to.<\/p>\n
Hopefully Alan does not mind if I include here what he wrote…<\/p>\n
I have written previously about what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:9 where he says, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain.<\/a>” Among other things, I wrote this:<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Should pastors get paid to preach the gospel? 1 Corinthians 9:14 seems to indicate that this is what Jesus commanded. What did Paul mean? If a pastor quotes 1 Corinthians 9:14 as a way to demand that the people he minister to should pay his salary, he is using 1 Corinthians 9:14 in exactly the opposite way that Paul was using it. Paul writes 1 Corinthians 9:14 in the context of explaining why he does not take money from the people he serves. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2296],"tags":[1473,1443,1236,1472,1238,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-24419","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-z","8":"tag-1-corinthians-9","9":"tag-money","10":"tag-pastor","11":"tag-preach-the-gospel","12":"tag-preaching","13":"tag-theology-church","14":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n
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